Indulging can feel pretty fun in the moment. But if you indulge yourself too
much or too quickly, you can run out of things to indulge in and experience a
kind of "hang-over" effect with nothing to look forward to anymore. To avoid
this situation, I've had to invent sustainable ways of indulging so I can
indulge steadily over a longer period of time. I'd rather enjoy a mellowed
version of certain indulgences throughout my life, than go all-out just a few
times here and there. The following is a sampling of examples of me
deliberately diminishing some of my indulgences so as to keep enjoying the
tiny pleasures across a very long period of time, perhaps even my entire life
if I'm lucky.

TV Shows

In today's era of Netflix and Hulu, it seems to have become a badge of honor
to claim that you got through an entire season of a new TV show in just a
weekend. Binge watching has now become a thing to be proud of and brag about
at work the next day. The truth however is that binge watching was never that
hard to begin with. Even the most untrained of human minds can easily focus
on a good suspense thriller, without so much as trying. Perhaps if you binge
watched the entire BBC series
on The History of
India, or the YouTube series
on How
to Build a Computer from Scratch — videos that many people would
find somewhat "boring" — that might be more commendable.

The unfortunate truth is that by binge watching TV shows, you're limiting
your indulgence to just 24-48 hours. What do you do the rest of the time
while you sit around waiting for the next season or the next series to arrive
at your lap? Feel depressed that you have nothing to turn to when you want to
take a break? Instead, what if you limited yourself to just one episode of
one show a day? Radical idea, eh? Immediately, you've turned your source of
entertainment/indulgence into a highly sustainable one that you can exploit
for years and decades to come. I did just that 10 years ago — I
switched to a max of 1 episode a day sometime in 2008 and have never looked
back since. Not only do I now have something to look forward to every
evening, I also never have to worry about running out of good shows to
watch. Or heavens forbid, resort to watching lower-quality shows just to pass
time.

Exercise/Marathon Training

In the winter of 2013, when I was solo-training for my first full marathon in
snow-capped Toronto, I forced myself to follow a pre-spreadsheeted training
plan. On most days, I would be overjoyed to get back home after a tiring run,
knowing that I was done for the day. On certain special days though, I would
return to my home street feeling so invigorated and so full of energy and
vitality that I simply would not want to come to a halt. I would just want to
keep running. "I'm sure I could squeeze in another extra mile or two today,"
I would tell myself pleadingly. Might as well get ahead of the training
program, right? In the endorphin-filled ecstatic moment, it was all too easy
to get myself to indulge. But since sustainability trumps instant
gratification, the answer always was no.

The next day however, I would have so much pent-up energy in my muscles from
the previous day's curtailed run. I would look forward to my evening
run all day at work. When was the last time you heard of someone so eager to
go on a 6-mile run when it was a jaw-numbing -10 degrees (14 °F) outside?
Only someone who wasn't allowed to run his 2 extra miles the previous day. By
having the discipline to say no and forcing myself to indulge sustainably
rather than impulsively, I made it very easy to get out everyday (arguably
the hardest part of any running program) and complete my training program
successfully. This episode taught me that spontaneous is very often the enemy
of sustainable.

Facial Shaving

This might seem like a bizarre example at first, but ask any guy who uses a
non-electric razor and they'll tell you how much they love how they feel once
they're done shaving their facial hair off. Especially the cool sensational
feeling of applying after-shave soon after you're done. The great feeling
post-shave makes you want to shave every single day if you've got the
time. But what starts off as a daily "indulgence" quickly goes south when you
realize that once you start shaving everyday regularly, you're pretty much
signing yourself to a lifetime commitment of shaving every day into the
future whether you like it or not. But why's that? As you start shaving
everyday, people become less used to seeing you with facial hair, thereby
increasing the pressure to shave everyday. Furthermore, as you start to shave
everyday, you facial hair starts to grow back faster, denser, and more
visibly, which motivates you to shave everyday if you're not a fan of facial
hair. This leads you down a slippery slope and before you know it, you're now
required to shave everyday, even when on vacation. What began as an
indulgence has now quickly degraded into an everyday chore. Certainly
not sustainable long term.

To counter this slippery slope, I make sure at least 3 days elapse between
shaves. If I shave on Monday, I can't shave again until Thursday. And if I do
shave on Thursday, then not again until Sunday. Despite the occasional
temptation to shave two days in a row on the days I want to feel great, this
self-restricting strategy helps force a break between two subsequent
shaves. Again, sustainability trumps short-term gratification.

Food/Eating

I love tasty food as much as the next person, but sustainably enjoying
delicious food day-over-day is an area I'm very serious about. I'd much
rather indulge moderately everyday than go crazy and lose my appetite
permanently for something I once used to love. I no longer over-eat during a
single meal because I like to feel real hunger right before the next
one. Curbing my indulgence slightly at the end of each meal allows me to
repeatedly indulge at the start of a subsequent meal, ad infinitum.

But who thinks of their next meal when they're busy gorging on their current
one? Nobody. But those who do might very well enjoy the fruits of
sustainability over the long term.

For instance, the next time you're ready to dig into a piece of delicious
cake, instead of eating it all at once as most people usually do, see if you
can eat half or a third and save the rest in the fridge for another
day. Perhaps as a well-deserved reward after a workout or study session? The
next time you order a sundae or a banana split for dessert, see if you can
share the treat with someone else so you can stop right at or just before you
hit your point of diminishing returns. I often consume a chocolate bar slowly
over 2 weeks by eating small chunks of it every now and then. It's very rare
that I'll finish an entire bar all at once. Once I get the party started, I
like to keep it going for as long as I possibly can.

Most of my friends from college are sick of Subway and pizza now because they
ate so much of it during our 5 years there. Worried I might permanently lose
my appetite for these two food items I genuinely liked and continue to still
do, I had to intervene early and ensure I never overdid it. Since without
proactive intervention, it simply would've been too easy to over-consume
them. Like shaving, by forcing a certain cool-down period (say 3-4 days)
between subsequent subs and pizzas, I was able to maintain my virgin appetite
for these 2 food items for well over a decade. By continuing to consciously
practice sustainable indulgence today and permanently into the future, I hope
to be able to keep enjoying subs and pizzas for the rest of my life. These
days, I don't get very many opportunities to go to Subway, but on the rare
days I do, I very much look forward to it. I can't say the same for many of
my friends because they unconsciously overdid it in college for 3-4 years,
and now they're permanently sick of it. Subs and pizzas are just an example,
but it applies to almost anything you love consuming and gorging on: burgers,
eggs, meat, fries, popcorn, chips, dessert, salads, cereal, cookies,
chocolate, ice cream, or even alcohol. You name it.

_____

To put things into the larger framework of life, overindulging oneself is
almost certainly a short-term play. With a lifetime that routinely lasts well
over 80 years for most health-conscious people, we can't run the risk of
running out of life's simple pleasures. What will you look forward to when
you've exhausted your supply of limited indulgences? Will new indulgences
keep materializing themselves forever? Maybe, but certainly not fast enough
to satisfy your ever-increasing appetite for new ones. Thus, sustainability
will always remain the name of the game.

Let's pause for a minute and think. What could you be overindulging in today
that you might regret a few years down the road? Which of those indulgences
can you curb slightly starting today so as to keep them going as a viable
source of happiness, entertainment, and joy for decades to come, perhaps even
forever? Reducing your indulgence level today by 25% might help you stretch
out your indulgence ability by over 1,000% in the long run. Often in
life, it's smarter to optimize for surface area (i.e. longevity) instead of
intensity. The age-old adage applies here: Eat the fruits of a tree, and not
the tree itself, for without the tree, there are no more fruits left to eat.

As our
friend doge might
say, this life hack is "much benefit, very wow". Try it out for yourself and
see if it delivers! Slowing down gratification has never failed me.